Bengaluru to soon get an automated street sweeping truck

The Bengaluru East municipal zone, which comprises the central business district, will be the test-bed for the municipal corporation's new automated sweeping machine.

The civic body is in the process of procuring a large truck-mounted mechanical sweeper at around Rs 90 lakh from New Delhi-based TPS Infrastructure Limited.One might wonder what happened to the two mechanised sweepers that were seen cleaning arterial roads ahead of the state government's flagship Invest Karnataka summit earlier this year. Interestingly, authorities now claim that the civic body never owned any mechanised sweepers.

"The BBMP never had any mechanised sweepers. What we had were hired on an emergency basis and they were faulty," BBMP Joint Commissioner (solid waste management) Sarfaraz Khan said.

"We are getting one large mechanical sweeper and a smaller one on a trial basis. We are paying only 60% of the cost. The rest will be paid based on how well they perform," he said. The large one will be deployed on major roads in the east zone whereas the small one will be used in narrow stretches such as Commercial Street, Khan added. "They will be GPS-enabled so as to monitor performance."

The civic body could choose from two types of mechanised sweepers - self-propelled and truck-mounted. Authorities have chosen the latter as it suits the city's high dust loads. "It comes with brushes at the bottom with a suction mechanism. It can take in 5 cubic metres of fine dust and leaves. It also has an extended arm to reach corners," Khan explained.

Ahmedabad and Hyderabad municipal corporations already use mechanised sweepers. In Bengaluru, the Whitefield Export Promotion Park Industrial Association (WEPPIA) has a truck-mounted sweeper to clean all main roads in its 570 acres.

"The machine works for eight hours daily along with five manual sweepers who take care of the footpaths," WEPPIA president Dr Ravi Babu Koppala said. "We save about Rs 1 lakh every month with the mechanised sweeper."

WEPPIA was prodded to go for the mechanised sweeper by citizen movement Whitefield Rising, which is now working with the BBMP on the same issue. "About 20% of the road is unusable due to heaps of mud, stones and debris. That's why two-wheelers stick to the middle of the road. Mechanised sweeping can improve average vehicle speeds," WR volunteer Clement Jayakumar said.